The tao is the law of nature,
which you can’t depart from for even one
instant. If you could depart from it, it wouldn’t be the tao.
Thus the mature person looks into her own heart and respects
what is unseen and unheard. Nothing is more manifest than
the hidden; nothing is more obvious than the unseen.
Thus the mature person pays attention to what
is happening in his inmost self.
honor comes to those who are correct
Emptiness is without characteristics.
Illumination has no emotional afflictions.
With piercing, quietly profound radiance,
it mysteriously eliminates all disgrace.
Thus one can know oneself; thus
the self is completed.
We all have the clear,
wondrously bright field from the beginning.
Many lifetimes of misunderstanding come only from
distrust, hindrance, and screens of confusion that we create
in a scenario of isolation. With boundless wisdom
journey beyond this, forgetting
accomplishments.
Straightforwardly abandon stratagems
and take on responsibility. Having turned yourself around,
accepting your situation, if you set foot on the path, spiritual energy
will marvelously transport you. Contact phenomena with
total sincerity, not a single atom of dust
outside yourself.
Proper enthusiasm opens every door.
The I Ching
teaches that there are
two kinds of enthusiasm: one that
leads to misfortune, and one that leads to success.
This hexagram comes as a sign that you can
proceed with confidence now if your
enthusiasm is properly
founded.
Improper
enthusiasm is fueled
by the desires of the ego.
People often desire recognition,
wealth, power, or freedom from difficulty.
Such desires can become so great that we will do
anything to achieve them. Our energy rises as we wildly
pursue our goal, but this unruly and egotistical
enthusiasm inevitably leads us into incorrect
and imbalanced behavior and
into misfortune.
Proper enthusiasm,
on the other hand, is fueled by
a devotion to attaining and expressing
inner balance and inner truth. When your aim
is not to influence others or to satisfy your ego but to
follow the guidance of the Higher Power in all that you do,
you acquire another kind of energy: a balanced and
bottomless eagerness for living in step with
what is right and good. In this there
is true power and true
grace.
This hexagram
reminds you that striving out
of your ego now will only push you further
away from your goals. Seek instead to follow proper
principles: keep to what is innocent, correct, and
kind, and the Creative will come to your aid.
The path of truth is always the path
of least resistance.
from The I Ching, or Book of Changes
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book.
A moment of kindness
can produce a mood of harmony
between heaven and earth. Purity of
heart can leave a fine example for
a hundred generations.
